The soft hum of the air conditioning was the only sound in the quiet living room, a steady baseline beneath the distant murmur of the weekday morning news. Outside, the summer sun was already painting the lawn a brilliant green. Inside, the cool, dim light felt like a sanctuary. From her spot on the plush sectional, she watched her son pad into the room, his movements loose and easy with the freedom of a graduate. At eigh...

Julie hummed along with the radio while she chopped onions, the knife thumping steady against the cutting board. It was almost seven, later than she usually started dinner, but Mark had been glued to some game all afternoon and she’d lost track of time scrolling on her phone, trying not to think too hard about everything. She’d thrown on the pale-yellow sundress she usually saved for weekend brunches—light cotton, little...

Wave. Surfing. Surfer. A storm out at sea churns the surface. Creates a chop. Smaller, then larger wavelets. These amalgamate, with enough wind, into heavy seas. What surfers are waiting for on distant coasts is the energy that escapes from the storm. It radiates outwards into calmer waters in the form of wave trains. Groups of waves, increasingly organised, that travel together. Each wave sets off a column of orbiting wa...

Chapter 1 Vacation It was the summer of my eighteenth year. The feeling of being at a threshold, on the edge of something new. Father, Mother and I were to go on vacation. But, Father had to back out at late notice because of an unforeseen work contingency. A faraway locale, a continent away. So, there we were, in a place we knew nobody, blissfully anonymous. Liberating, though I couldn’t really say for what. *** It was a...

Jeremy stood frozen at the top of the stairs, his heart hammering so loud he swore it echoed in the quiet house. The only other sound was the faint hum of the TV downstairs, left on in the living room. He was supposed to be at Jeff’s place, crashing for the night, but Jeff had ditched him last minute for some girl, leaving Jeremy to slink back home. Now, he was stuck, caught in the stillness of the house, waiting for what...

Deeper Mysteries Dinner was great. At first, it was hard to pay attention. Following her lead, however, I tried to pretend that the way her breasts jiggled beneath the blouse that she threw on wasn't the only thing that mattered. Things had started with a fever pitch, and it seemed that now Mom was just trying to slow things down a little bit. She actually looked kind of cute in her Betty Crocker apron. It was as though s...

The New Mom Fortunately, I suppose, our bathroom interlude had set the evening schedule back somewhat. It took me a full hour just to psychologically adjust. By the time I got down to the kitchen, the table was set, and Mom had already eaten. The evening meal, as good as it was, went past like a blur. She was really rushed from before the time I arrived at the table: on the phone, pulling together what she needed; half he...